73-year-old arrested after car drags motorcycle for 500 metres in Delhi

• 73-year-old Venu Gopal arrested after his car allegedly hit a motorcycle and dragged it for nearly 500 metres in Delhi’s R.K. Puram

• Viral video shows the motorcycle trapped under the car, with bystanders stopping the vehicle and confronting the driver; the rider Tapas says he could have died

• Police impound the car and launch a probe; medical examination finds no indication that Gopal was driving under the influence of alcohol

A 73-year-old man was arrested after his car allegedly hit a motorcycle and dragged it for nearly 500 metres in southwest Delhi’s R.K. Puram area late on Thursday night, police said.

A video of the incident has since surfaced, showing the car travelling along a tree-lined road with the motorcycle trapped underneath it. Sparks can be seen flying as the vehicle continues moving, while a man riding a scooter follows the car and repeatedly urges the driver to stop.

“Hey, stop. Move aside,” the man can be heard saying in the footage as the elderly driver continues driving with the motorcycle underneath the car.

The car eventually comes to a halt, following which a woman travelling pillion on the scooter records the incident and approaches the vehicle. She opens the car door and asks the driver to step out.

“Come outside. Don’t fold your hands, come out first,” she tells him.

The driver, identified by police as Venu Gopal, a resident of Vasant Kunj, is seen folding his hands in an apparent gesture of apology. As several people gather around the vehicle, one man grabs Gopal by the collar and attempts to pull him out.

The video also shows the woman slapping the elderly driver during the confrontation. Another person in the crowd can be heard calling him “shameless”.

The motorcycle rider, identified as Tapas, is seen questioning Gopal about the incident.

“If it was a mistake, you could have stopped. I could have died,” Tapas tells him.

Another person in the crowd questions the driver about what could have happened if someone had been trapped beneath the motorcycle.

According to Delhi Police, the preliminary enquiry found that Tapas was sitting on a parked vehicle on the roadside when his motorcycle was struck by the blue car allegedly driven by Gopal.

The impact caused Tapas to fall from the motorcycle. The car then continued moving, with the motorcycle trapped underneath it, dragging the two-wheeler for approximately 500 metres, police said.

The driver was subsequently arrested, while the car was impounded for further investigation.

Police said Gopal was also medically examined following the incident. The examination did not indicate that he was under the influence of alcohol at the time, officials said.

Investigators are examining the circumstances surrounding the collision and the subsequent movement of the car to establish the exact sequence of events.

The incident comes shortly after a separate case in Gurugram in which a car driver was allegedly accused of deliberately hitting a woman biker who was part of a biker club. The driver was arrested in that case.

With IANS inputs